


Fall

by NancyandNed



Series: Today Until Forever [5]
Category: Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene
Genre: Autumn, Established Relationship, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Gift Giving, Love Confessions, Teen Romance, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:33:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NancyandNed/pseuds/NancyandNed
Summary: It is too soon for Ned to feel this way.
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Series: Today Until Forever [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665985
Kudos: 17





	Fall

Love. It was a strange word and an even stranger feeling.

He loved his parents, his grandparents, his friends. But Nancy? That was a different kind of love.  
He had never felt like this before. And for a while he hadn't been sure what it really meant.

But looking down at her as she talked animatedly about her recent weekend trip to New York to meet her aunt where she'd solved another quick case, he knew.

Her face glinted in the autumn sunshine as they walked hand in hand through the park. Her hair was the colour of the fall foliage.

It was too soon to feel this way, though. It was mid October and they'd been together for just about four months. The summer had been fantastic and they had spent so much time in each others houses that his mom had bought her a mug with her name on it while Hannah always kept aside a Tupperware of whatever delicious food she'd cooked, for him. He was a junior now while she was a sophomore and all their friends also knew by now that were really fond of each other. They'd spent so much time together, that his memories sometimes jumbled up the details of every date.

But there was one thing he knew, had been certain of, was that he was falling, falling absolutely and hopelessly in love with Nancy.  
He _loved_ her.

"Earth to Ned." Her sweet voice broke into his thoughts. They were now sitting on a bench.  
She reached up to kiss him on the cheek but he turned his face at the last second to steal a quick kiss on the lips.

He would never want to kiss another girl. He would never feel that way about another woman.  
She blushed. She was still sometimes so shy with showing affection.

"So I was saying, I got you something from New York."  
She reached into her bag and pulled out a small white cardboard box with a red bow onthe top and handed it to him.

"Promise me you'll open it only after you reach home."

"Why? What's in it?"

"You'll see. Now promise. No peeking."

"Promise."

She smiled and snuggled into his shoulder and he put his arm around her. She smelled like spring.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, his fingers playing with her hair while hers traced gentle patterns on his palm.

If he didn't tell her, he would burst.

"Nan."

"Hmm." She raised her head from his shoulder, and her beautiful blue eyes looked right into his.

"I love you." He whispered.

He saw her eyes become round and then she laughed.

"Open the box."

His heart sank. She hadn't said it back. Worse, she'd laughed. He had to do something so he did what she said. He picked up the box from where he'd kept it beside him on the bench and opened it.

It held a stone, the perfect shape of a heart. Picking it up, he noticed there was something at the bottom of the box. Gingerly, he took it out.

It was a printed picture.

Nancy was standing on her toes and kissing him. One of his arms was looped around her waist while the other by held his helmet. The jersey she wore had his name on it. He realised it was the picture Bess had snapped on the field, the day Nancy had kissed him for the first time. Turning it over, he saw that she'd written something at the back.

_I tripped over this stone at Central Park and it reminded me of you, because I've fallen for you too. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, Ned Nickerson, I love you._   
_With all my heart,_   
_Nancy_

As he raised his eyes to meet hers, she spoke, the biggest smile he'd ever seen plastered on her face.

"I love you too." Her voice was the faintest whisper.

And then she'd snuggled back into his chest, pulling his arm around her.

The wind had picked up and it's chilly force shook the trees around them. But Ned didn't mind. He had never felt warmer.


End file.
